Open My Eyes
by Demeanon
Summary: Set post-Eclipse, pre-Breaking Dawn. Bella has yet to decide between Edward and Jacob, and when she hears that Jacob has run off, she convinces Edward and Alice to help her find her friend. But the Volturi clan is always watching, waiting to move.
1. Chapter 1

A/N from Demeanon: Hi there! So, while this is not my first ever fanfiction, it is my first fanfiction in two regards - One: this is for the Twilight fandom; and Two: this is my first co-authored story. I'm working on it with my friend curly-hairedbookworm. We are searching for a title, and so are leaving it up to you all to suggest titles.

And since it is late and I cannot think of anything else to say, without further adue, here is the first chapter to our currently untitled story.

This update brought to you on Thursday, June 24 2010.

* * *

Untitled Twilight Story

The all night graduation party was getting into full swing when Bella and the Cullens walked in. Mike and Jessica were standing near the buffet table, chatting animatedly with Lauren and Tyler. Mike looked up when the door opened, and waved enthusiastically at Bella.

"That's a nice dress you have on Bella," Mike stated as she neared the table, Cullens in tow. "I like the blue."

"Yes," Lauren sneered. "It's exactly the same color as the sweater you always wear." She paused to take a sip of her punch, allowing her words to sink in. "Personally, I think you need more variety in your wardrobe. Blue just emphasizes your paleness."

Alice giggled, drawing the group's attention to herself. "At least Bella is wearing the latest style from Paris. Your dress is so last season."

Lauren's eyes widened, and Jessica quickly grabbed her punch before it was able to slip from her fingers. "I think I'll just take Lauren over to the girl's room to, uh. Powder her nose." With that Jessica led the gaping girl away from the sniggering mass.

As the Cullens tried to get their laughing under control, Mike turned to Bella again. "So, where're you going to college?"

Bella faltered. She hadn't been planning on going to college – instead she had been planning to join the Cullen clan. "I'm, uh. I'm still waiting on my acceptance letters."

Tyler frowned. "If you're still waiting, chances are none of them accepted you. Where'd you apply?"

"Oh, all over the place. Wanted to keep my choices open, ya know?"

"Well if you were turned down," Mike said, sympathetically placing a hand on her shoulder, "then they probably weren't that great of schools."

Edward smiled at Mike and responded with "She was actually accepted to the University of Florida in Gainesville." He put his arm around her and hugged her closer to his body, causing Mike's hand to fall from her shoulder. "I'm going there too."

Alice glanced quickly at Edward before adding, "She's planning on majoring in English." When Edward looked at her sharply, Alice merely shot him a smirk and shrugged.

"Oh," Mike replied, looking dejected. "I was hoping you'd stay in the area. I'm going to Peninsula College. Port Angeles." He smiled weakly. "Have to keep the store going and stuff."

"But hey," he said, brightening. "English major. You'd be really good at it. If you ever need help with an essay or, ah. Anything else, I'll be happy to help."

Bella nodded politely. "Thanks Mike, but I think I'll be okay."

Mike smiled and offered to get her some punch, but left for the punch bowl before she could respond. Edward coughed, and said, "Bella, may I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure Edward." Bella smiled apologetically at her friends, saying "I'll be right back."

Leaving the group behind, Edward and Bella went a few yards away to stand next to a rather concealing ficus tree. Edward turned Bella around to face him, and when she saw his tense expression, she frowned.

She had just opened her mouth to ask him what the matter was when he whispered harshly at her, "I don't want you talking to Mike anymore."

Bella felt her mouth drop open, and she knew she had a ridiculously dumb expression on her face. "But, why," she managed to ask, her voice hitching slightly in her confusion. "We were just talking about colleges."

Edward's eyes flashed black for a moment and he opened his mouth, only to pause. After lightly shaking his head, his voice soothingly responded. "He was thinking, how shall I put this. Impure thoughts. With you as the opposite party."

"You mean you think he was," Bella paused for the right word. "Fantasizing about me?"

Edward snorted in amusement. "In relative terms, yes."

A few minutes later, the couple found themselves back with their friends and family. Jessica and Lauren had returned, and Lauren busied herself with fawning over Mike in an attempt to pointedly ignore both Alice and Bella. In the meantime, Bella tried to laugh along with all of the jokes that Tyler and Mike threw around; but with Edward's warning about Mike, her laughter sounded increasingly forced as Mike continued to attempt to make her smile.

Finally, Jessica left to chat with some of her friends from her fashion marketing class. As soon as Jessica was out of range, Mike looked Bella directly in the eye.

"Bella, what's wrong?" When she shook her head his brow knitted. "You don't seem yourself – at least one of my jokes, even the admittedly bad ones, would've made you crack a real smile by now."

He leaned closer to her, concern dreadfully apparent in his expression. "C'mon, smile. Your smiles are so pretty."

Dear Lord, was that her heart beating so loudly?

Jasper abruptly stood up. "I think I need some air – a bit too, ah. Excitin' in here," he quickly announced before he dashed off as quickly as he could in present company. Bella felt her heart beat faster – if Jasper left, then that must mean that Mike's emotions were out of hand. Was he fantasizing about her right now?

Oh God. Just the thought of her and Mike doing _it_ made her imagine _it_, and she felt her cheeks flush. "I'm sorry, I, uh. Think I ate some bad food earlier." She groaned and held a hand to her stomach, earning more concerned looks. "Edward, can you take me home?"

Edward's expression was one of true concern, and she almost believed she had tricked him as well by faking sickness. Then she saw the light tick in the corner of his mouth – he was hiding a smile. "Of course Bella." He took her by the arm and led her to the entrance. "Are you sure you're quite well?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ok, so this is a co-written story between me and my friend curlyhairdbookworm. She did the preliminary draft for this chapter, and then I edited it. So, yeah. OH, and neither of us are good at titles, so we ask you, our readers, to please help us find a more suitable title for this story. And review. Thanks, and we hope you enjoy the chapter.

This update brought to you on September 8, 2010.

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Chapter 2

Bella reveled in the feeling of Edward's strong arm linked with hers as he led her through the prom crowds. It made her feel secure and looked after. She was very fortunate to have such as strong man in her life. She turned her head and smiled brightly at him.

Where would she be without him?

Before her thoughts could dwell on that question any longer, Edward turned to her and gave a quick half smile. "I'm going to fetch the car. Stay here and I'll be back quickly."

"Why do I have to stay here," Bella asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Edward stroked her cheek. "Because you have very lovely heels on. I don't believe you should be wearing those things and have to walk to a car." He flashed her a dazzling smile when she nodded her head in agreement. "I'll be right back."

A few moments later, Bella remembered the punch Mike had gotten her. She had been too nervous to drink it then, given all the things Edward gave her to think about. She was regretting that now – it was hot in the hall, and Bella was really thirsty. Thinking Edward wouldn't object to her moving the ten feet to the refreshment table, Bella headed over and grabbed a cup.

The first sip had been extremely sweet and burned her throat on the way down. She sipped the punch some more and eventually the burning went away, but she was twice as thirsty as before. Bella refilled her cup from the bowl, and giggled when some of it spilled over and stained the table cloth.

After she downed that cup, she put it down on the table and turned to go back to the doors. She must have turned too fast – she almost lost her balance and stumbled for a few feet. She laughed, and continued to walk towards the doors. She'd have to tell Edward about her clumsiness later.

Bella stood next to the door, feeling giddy as her attention slid from person to person, and then from decoration to decoration. She didn't seem to be able to focus on any of them – they all were too interesting to ignore.

Suddenly Edward appeared in front of her. Bella looked up at him curiously. "Did you just run super-fast?"

As she spoke, Edward's nose crinkled. She giggled to herself – he looked funny when he did that. She wondered why she had never noticed it before.

"Bella," Edward said, interrupting her musings. "Have you been drinking anything?"

"Just some of the punch."

His eyelids narrowed slightly in annoyance before he shut them and brought a hand up to rub his forehead. After a moment, he sighed and looked back to Bella with a stern look on his face.

"The punch was spiked," he told her, his tone slightly exasperated. "Didn't it taste funny? Or did you just not notice?"

Bella frowned lightly. "I did notice something was wrong with it, I guess," she replied as Edward led her down to the car. "But I thought it was sugar."

His gaze flickered over to her, an eyebrow slightly raised, as he opened the door for her. She got in, and he closed the door. The car was already at a rather warm temperature, and as Edward drove out of the parking lot and onto the main road, Bella fell asleep.

* * *

Edward didn't breathe the entire drive. How could he, when her blood was mixed with alcohol? It was a disgusting mixture, and he would've rolled his window down a crack to alleviate the smell if they weren't travelling at such high speeds.

He couldn't take her back to her house – Charlie would never let her out of the house without a "proper" escort again if Edward brought her back drunk and passed out. So he did the only logical thing he could think of; he took her back to the Cullen mansion.

Carlisle and Esme were out on a week-long hunting trip. They had seen the rest of the coven graduate high school enough times to have grown tired of keeping themselves under control while hoards of sweaty parents and family members pushed themselves into the bleachers to watch their children receive diplomas.

Edward parked the Volvo and got out before opening Bella's door. The brief stint of fresh air had cleansed his nose of her smell, and so he was transfixed for a moment as her scent wafted up to his nose. Despite the stink of alcohol that was connected to her, the rich aroma of her blood caused venom to rise up in his mouth, as it always did.

Ignoring his desire to just grab the young human girl and drain her, Edward lifted her carefully out of the car. As he carried her bridal style, he sensed the rest of the "recent graduates" in the house. He knew as soon as he sensed them that they were trying to hide something, as all of them were reciting poetry, football teams, the Gettysburg Address, and translating a Mark Twain novel into ancient Greek.

After depositing Bella on his bed, Edward quickly pressed a kiss to her forehead. As soon as his lips met her forehead, he felt venom pool in his mouth. He quickly backed up, and took a moment to steel his resolve before he headed downstairs to deal with his ever so loving siblings.

As he made his way down the stairs, he passed Emmett and Rosalie; Rosalie smiled thinly at him and Emmett merely shrugged at him before tipping him a somewhat mocking salute. Edward felt his brow furrow. Why was everyone blatantly hiding something from him?

He entered the living room and was greeted with an angry pixie standing in front of the couch, arms folded across her chest. Alice maintained the glare for a moment before she said, with forced calmness, "What were you thinking?"

When met with a blank look from Edward, she continued. "Mike wasn't doing anything inappropriate, and he does have a girlfriend, whom you know he's never going to cheat on. We all agree – you had no reason to intentionally make Bella misread his body language."

Edward's silence continued, and Alice finally began yelling. "You know why Jasper left? You do, don't you? He left because your jealousy mixed with Bella's discomfort and uneasiness created such an overwhelming atmosphere that he was worried that he would unintentionally infect others with it.

"And you had no reason whatsoever to warn Bella away, and you seemed to forget, intent as you were on tricking Bella, that you didn't move out of our hearing range!"

Edward finally broke in, cutting Alice off with "I'm trying to protect her." He sent a withering glare at her and continued, saying "How dare you imply that I have any other motives besides her safety and happiness.

"She is my life. I would never do anything to hurt her, nor allow anything to hurt her. And I will do everything I can to keep her safe from everything that's out there."

Before Alice had a chance to respond, the tension in the room suddenly decreased. The change in mood was soon followed by Jasper's appearance in the room. He looked at his wife for a moment before calmly directing his gaze towards Edward.

"Edward," Jasper began, "Bella means a lot to all of us. We'd all be willin' to do anythin' to keep her safe. I do believe that both of y'all can agree on that." He moved across the room to put a supportive arm around Alice, whose face had a slight frown on it. "But I do agree that the situation could've been handled better.

"Personally Edward, I think you'll need to be careful to not push her away. It is possible to be too protective."

Edward ground his teeth, attempting to not growl at his brother. "I'll keep that in mind Jasper." He looked at Alice, who still looked vaguely hostile. "Alice, call Charlie and let him know that Bella will be sleeping here. Do not mention that she drank spiked punch – something tells me he'd automatically blame me."

Alice glared at him, but went upstairs to make the call regardless. As soon as he heard her door click shut, he turned to Jasper.

"If you would, please, make her more agreeable for her talk with Charlie. He doesn't need to be worried over nothing."

Jasper frowned. "I don't like the idea of that. She enjoys her free will, and she'll know that I affected her. I'd not want her to be stiff with me." He looked up at Edward. "Not that you'd understand, what with Bella being so warm to you and all."

"Just help me," Edward replied, his eyes growing darker. "Besides, if Charlie doesn't believe her, then Bella could be kept away from us all for several weeks. Do you really want that?"

The southern boy sighed heavily before shaking his head. "No, I don't believe I'd prefer that much. Besides, Alice would be very sad, should that happen. And I'd rather endure her anger than her sorrow."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, I do agree to help you this once, but I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for my wife." With that, Jasper gave a polite nod and went upstairs to join Alice.

Edward soon found himself next to his slumbering girlfriend. Judging from the way she was breathing, she wouldn't be up for another few hours. But when she did awake, she would have quite a bad hangover. And in all his years of listening to inane high school students, Edward had learned one fact that would soon prove useful: the best cure for a hangover was time, painkillers, and coffee.


End file.
